Kitchen worktops in Stratford

Yes. New apartment kitchens dominate and are open-plan against a wall of the living space, 2.6m to 3.2m of run with integrated appliances and a slim breakfast bar; owners replace the developer laminate top for stone within a few years. The older terraces to the west still have back-addition galley kitchens of around 2.4m. The practical answer is to check the fixture list before the date is offered, because a template slot lost to a road closure cannot be recovered that week. Splashbacks are normally the last thing off, so a short parking window is exactly when they get rushed. That is why they are crated the way they are.

Victorian terrace, 1960s-70s estate and 2012 onwards high-rise apartment. The flat entrance door and the internal doorways are usually tighter than the communal stairs, which is the opposite of what most people assume. We measure the front door, the hall width and the turn into the kitchen before anything comes off the van, because a 3m piece has to swing through that corner on edge and stone does not bend to help you. That is the shape of the day.

Around the centre almost everything is a managed development with basement loading bays, booked goods lifts and marshalled service yards, and events at the nearby venues bring road closures and event-day parking restrictions. The Victorian streets are CPZ-controlled with narrow bays and no forecourt. Where the lift will not take the longest run we design a join in rather than gamble, because a piece that will not go up has to go back on the van. We walk the route with a tape and protect it end to end before the first piece is lifted. It gets checked before the first piece is lifted.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop splashbacks & upstands, in that order. Developer-fitted kitchens come with thin cam-lock carcasses, which are fine under laminate and want bracing before stone goes on them. Socket and switch positions have to be final before templating, because a cut-out in the wrong place means a new piece. Same batch, same run, same day. The recurring job is stripping out a builder-spec top in an occupied new flat, so dust control and a same-day sink swap matter as much as the stone.

Two parallel runs with a walkway between them is the most efficient shape there is on a slab, because both pieces nest as straight lengths with almost no waste. A layout that has been packed and levelled run by run instead of to one datum shows as a step where two pieces meet. Dry-lay first, always. The stone carries the scribe because the wall cannot be persuaded, so back edges are cut oversize and eased in rather than dropped straight down. Rushing that is what leaves a gap you look at every morning for fifteen years. Eased in, never forced. Material runs from £110 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines rather than rolled into one figure.

The householder is normally on site at template, and that is the right time to settle sink position, tap centres and overhang rather than agree them by email. Full-height panels need the wall made good first, which is another trade and another timescale. The wall has to be ready. Tell us the building when you book and the lift, the stair turn and any freeholder notice get built into the day rather than found on it.